


Redemption

by Aerolysia



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: And is kinda a little not too crazy, Bellatrix Black Lestrange Lives, Dark Hermione Granger, F/F, Horcruxes, Light Angst, Maybe more grayish Hermione, Past Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, could be romantic if you squint a little, or a lot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-28
Updated: 2020-05-28
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:41:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24421468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aerolysia/pseuds/Aerolysia
Summary: Listened to a song and this happened. Hermione has run away because she's afraid she could be dangerous and Ron and Harry finally catch up. There really is no point to this. Was fun to write though. Not too dark, a little angsty maybe for Ron, and Bellatrix kinda sorta flirts.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Bellatrix Black Lestrange
Comments: 4
Kudos: 61





	Redemption

**Author's Note:**

> I was listening to Redemption by Besomorph and Coopex and decided this should be a fic about Hermione and how her experiences made it difficult for Ron to relate and how she got frustrated and left him...yeah well it didn't go that way as I got a different idea halfway through the first draft and decided i wanted to read about Horcruxes. Sooooo since this is finally finished I've found the perfect fic to read so I hope it isn't too bad. I kinda enjoyed writing it. Even though I was meant to be working on the mistletoe scene of Just a Brand.

Harsh breaths echoed in the night air. Grunts and groans echoed in the dark world around them as her once friends picked themselves up and took stock of their wounds. Both of them knew they should be grateful they were still alive. In the five years since she had fled she had only grown in power. Their feeble attempts to pacify her had failed and now they had chosen to take her in by force. Their desperation almost brought a smile to her lips; the part of her that was no longer herself reveled in their pain, in their desperation but the part that was still Hermione shuddered at how she almost relished their every mutter of pain.

"You should leave here. And forget about me."

They couldn't see her in the dark and her voice echoed off every tree that circled their clearing, still Harry looked up and she sucked in a breath as he looked straight toward her. Almost as if he knew exactly where she was, as if he could actually see her amidst the darkening charm she had blanketed them with.

"We're not leaving here without you." She remembered that stubbornness. Often it was mistaken for bravery, but she could hear the shake in the undercurrents of his tone. Could see him struggling to stand steady on his feet, even his wand shook in his hand. He had defeated the most powerful dark wizard their world had ever known with that wand and it hadn't so much as twitched in his grip. Now he was faced with his best friend and he couldn't stop the tremors.

"Come home, Hermione. We'll get you help….We can go back to the way things were." Her brown eyes flickered to Ron. He was just as afraid as Harry, just as full of nervous energy. Harry at least had the presence of mind to hold his wand out in case of a quickly needed defense. Ron's was held limply at his side. He likely told himself he didn't want to hurt her. That his love for her would save her and she knew he still fooled himself into thinking she loved him as well.

Perhaps once she really had loved him. She couldn't quiet recall what that emotion would have felt like. Perhaps it was something warm. She was always so cold now. She had told herself a long time ago to succeed she couldn't afford herself the luxury of feelings, of happiness. It had been so long she couldn't remember what it felt like to truly laugh, to smile at a friend. She only ever allowed herself those kinds of comforts when she was alone with the voice inside her head. That at least was a demon she had learned to temper.

Still despite her years of forcing herself to remain impassive she couldn't find it in herself to feel nothing for the boys she had watched grow to men.

Even if she had felt nothing at all for either of them she wouldn't kill them. They had been friends once, comrades even, she remembered that much. She remembered much of their life inside Hogwarts. They had fought side by side. That surely merited some leniency on her part, wouldn't you agree?

 _"No, Muddy, I wouldn't. Just kill them and get on with it already. I have things to do that don't involve the blood traitor and the boy who bloody well won't die!_ "

She flinched at the voice screeching in her head. Such an annoying thing, her bond with the blasted woman. She had always known Bellatrix Lestrange wasn't dead, she had known the minute Molly Weasley told the world she had defeated the dark witch in a duel that it wasn't exactly true. Bellatrix Lestrange would never be dead. Not as long as she was alive.

She turned her attention back to the boys, they were trying to dispel the darkness, it was a feeble attempt at the most. Amusing even.

"I'm not going back." They froze at the sound of her voice, clear and concise. "I don't belong there anymore."

Ron shook his head desperately, his shaggy red hair falling all over his face and he squinted through the darkness, trying desperately to find her. "That's not true! Hermione it's not. I know things got bad but- I still love you. I'll help you, we all will. Just please-" He fell to his knees, this time without her added assistance of a curse to put him there.

For a split second she found herself reaching out to comfort him, but her hand curled back up against her palm and she pulled away, tucking herself deeper into the natural shadows of the night.

"No." The simple word had Ron beating his fist against the cold hard ground until Harry reached out and grasped his shoulder. At least he was still defensive, his wand still at the ready. Merlin knew she had killed enough people over the past few years to warrant his weary stance.

Nothing was going to be the same ever again. Ron was clinging to fantasies. Fantasies that hadn't ever been real, not even when she had been with him those two years after the final battle. She was broken, she had been broken lying on that cold marble floor screaming futilely for mercy. His love wouldn't save her. He couldn't fix her. Nothing he could ever do or say would ever be enough to repair her soul. She had done too much and already come too far.

And even if she did wish to return…

Hermione Granger was the most sought-after fugitive in all of Europe's magical world. There would be no parades for the once golden girl if she chose to return to civilization. There would be no pardons or leniency if she turned herself in, only the clap of heavy chains and the wailing of prisoners as the Dementors sucked out all the joys in life.

_"I am not going back there you filthy little mongrel! I'll kill us both first."_

She sighed heavily. Her life wasn't just her own anymore. This was unexpected, unwelcome, but it was her reality. She couldn't go back. It wasn't safe for anyone for her to even try. She was Bellatrix Lestrange's unwilling jailer, she was all that stood between the woman and utter chaos because if they thought Voldemort was bad he had nothing on Bellatrix. She was insanely powerful, if she took over Hermione completely there would be few alive still who could stop her.

"Then take me with you!" Ron's desperate plea pulled her back from her thoughts, gave her pause. Gave them both pause before the dark woman filled her head with a child like cackle.

_"Oh! Let's do, we could play such delicious games with him."_

"No." She spoke the word both to him and to the madness inside herself. "Bellatrix would eat you alive." Had she meant to include that, to give them a hint as to what had happened to her, as to why she had fled in the dead of the night and found so many dead wizards at her feet? Hadn't she resigned herself to this fate already? She didn't truly need them trying to save her, they would only get in the way, likely find themselves harmed.

"Bella-Hermione she's dead. She can't hurt you anymore." Harry moved toward her and her eyes narrowed. How could he tell where she was through her charms? Surely he couldn't but he hadn't looked away from her since their duel had ended.

 _"Ickle boy thinks he knows so much. Hex him again. Give him a crucio! Make him really feel it this time."_ The dark voice shrieked when she shook her head in denial. She may be going mad but she wasn't cruel.

"Don't follow me." She could feel her limits encroaching. Bellatrix always got antsy when she was nearly spent. It made her so much easier for the sliver of the dark witch to control. She wouldn't let her harm the boys. She owed them that at least that much. The two may have worked out an agreement of sorts but Hermione knew Bellatrix would jump at the chance to take revenge out on Harry and Ron. Harry especially.

She waved her hand and the darkness surrounding them was pierced by the bright hollow light of the full moon. They could see her, all of her. Their shock kept them still long enough for her to smile sadly in their direction. Surely she didn't look so different. Her hair was wildly curly but not quite as untamed as Bella's had been, it had darkened considerably since she'd seen them last, something she knew they couldn't appreciate properly in the reflected light. Her skin was surely pale in the moonlight. But perhaps it was her wardrobe that seemed to drive the point home to them. The dark leather pants and the flowing white tunic was a far cry from what their bookish friend would have sported around the halls of Hogwarts, or even in her room at the Burrow.

"Her-"Ron swallowed but determination flooded his veins, propelling him to his feet. "Hermione!"

It was cruel she knew.

But she waited for him to get a breath from her before she turned into jet black smoke, trademark of a Death Eater, and flew up away into the trees. She ignored his every plea to return and promised herself he would never let them get so close again. She couldn't risk his life. She couldn't risk Harry's.

_"You are far too much of a goody-goody, mudblood. Can't you imagine all the fun we could have just had? They weren't even a close match for you. You could have dueled them with your eyes close."_

"Shut up, I'm not letting you have your fun through me." She struggled to get out of the woods before her body tired out from the use of her magic. It was so much stronger than she could ever remember. Even in her angriest moments she had never been as powerful as she was now. It was like having lightning running through her veins and even now she couldn't fully control it. It was taxing.

She had pushed herself hard to avoid Harry and Ron, they had grown into skilled Aurors since the last time she had laid eyes on them. It was inevitable that they had finally caught up with her. They had been on her trail for at least the past year after all and their persistence had driven both herself and Bellatrix insane.

In the end it had been her choice to turn and face them. Both to give them a warning and to test them. To see how much they had progressed the past few years, to see if they would survive in the cruel and unfair world they lived in. She wasn't disappointed. They could have done with a bit more practice dueling, but she was confident they would survive should they face anyone unsavory in their work.

But they would not be able to catch her again. Not with the level they were currently at. It was a bit of a relief to finally know she could face them and she hoped it would discourage them from continuing on with trying to redeem her.

There was no hope for her.

She knew this. She may not have wanted to kill those people. It might have been an accident, but the truth of the matter was it was her hands that had done it. It wasn't the crazy villainess living inside her mind. It had been her, Hermione Granger.

And she wouldn't go back and change it.

_"Of course, you wouldn't they were vile. You need to find somewhere to land if you don't want me playing around with your body when you pass out. You're about to drop, you know, you need to get some rest."_

Hermione did as she bid. Once when they were first figuring each other out Hermione would have thought it was suspicious for Bellatrix to be offering her advice, especially advice about her wellbeing. But as the years had stretched on and their isolation grew she found the woman could actually be pleasant company. At least when she wasn't ranting and raving about her dark lord and murdering muggles. The witch was still crazy after all. Sometimes the cracks in her sanity slipped out.

But once where the bits of concern that peeked through had been rare, now…now they were more frequent. And as they years had progressed, they had formed some type of truce. It of course had conditions. Hermione knew if she ignored the witch's warnings she could very well wake up to find herself in the middle of a muggle home torturing whoever or whatever was in sight. The woman was still an opportunist. And she was still….definitely…mostly crazy.

But as long as they kept to their rules they managed to live comfortably together. And in time they had even begun to debate productively on certain things. Crazy or not Bellatrix was insanely intelligent. Hermione often found herself enjoying the time the two spent locked up in her little makeshift cabin pouring over parchments and books.

Sometimes she even found the woman's soft voice soothing. Something she never would have expected after having been under the witch with her arm being sliced into ribbons as she carved that foul brand into her soft skin.

 _"Oh sod that,"_ Bellatrixhuffed, _"it wasn't all that bad. Didn't you like having me on top of you, pet. You did all that wriggling, it was delightful….and the way you screamed, oh….that was heavenly. Do you want to do it again?"_ Bellatrix let out a ringing chuckle.

Hermione stumbled a bit as her feet connected with the soft dewy grass. "Seriously? How could you even think I enjoyed that?" She glanced down at her arm. She couldn't see the crude letters. Her shirt covered it, but she had also taken to wrapping it in bandages as it had a terrible tendency to bleed from time to time.

 _"Well,"_ To her amusement Bellatrix seemed a little huffier than she had been. _"I certainly enjoyed it. For a mudblood you're not all that bad looking. I can certainly see why the red-haired twat wants you back so bad."_

Hermione shook her head. Bellatrix had often been vocal about her unsolicited opinion of Ron. In the years she had spent with Ron she had often filled Hermione's head with her ranting and raving about blood traitors but that had eventually turned to criticizing his every romantic move. She constantly reminded Hermione of arguments between the two and brought up anything she knew Hermione would be irritated about. It had definitely helped ruin their budding romance.

There had still been the occasional crazy screeching but Hermione had found herself wondering more and more if Bellatrix just hadn't been jealous of the time she spent with him. She had been the woman's only link to the world after all and Hermione could only imagine what it felt like to be a conscious inside someone else with no body of your own.

 _"Jealous? ME?"_ She clutched her head as Bellatrix gave her the impression of claws on a chalkboard, the damn woman knew just how much that hurt. _"Not on your life mudblood. I was simply bored. YOU'RE BORING! A little entertainment never hurt anyone and I obviously had to make my own didn't I?"_

Trust Bellatrix to make a television show out of her love life just for her own amusement. She shook her head irritably and headed toward the flattest area she could find, grateful she had never gotten rid of her bag so at least she could pitch the tent and sleep off the cold wet ground. She didn't have the strength to try and make it home and she knew so long as she didn't pass out she could slip into the dream world she shared with the raven haired witch. Bellatrix wouldn't take control of her if she entered there of her own free will, Hermione had never figured out why exactly and had taken to assuming it was just another of their unspoken rules of truce.

She set the tent up as quickly as possible and clamored into the bed that had been hers when they were hunting for Horcruxes. It was strange how empty it felt without Ron and Harry with her. It was ridiculous but if she was being honest with herself she had to admit she was far more miserable now than she had been back then. It was dangerous and she hated that at any moment they could fail and it would all be over. But it had also been exiting in its own way. An empowering feeling being given a secret mission that would end a war and save so many people. Now she had no true purpose, no cause to fight for except her own sanity and the protection of the stray person she passed in her travels away from her cabin.

Bellatrix snorted in her mind. _"Dumbledore's little forward army, were you?"_ Hermione didn't answer and Bellatrix didn't press. Neither would truly admit it but they were both looking forward to their dreamscape tonight. It was a lonely existence after all, being Bellatrix Lestrange's horcrux.

**Author's Note:**

> So I figured it might be a bit vague in some areas. Idk if it's really all that great or if I will want to write any more for this or not so I'm gonna consider it complete.


End file.
